Review on 🎧 Pink Audio-Technica ATH-CLR100iSPK SonicFuel In-Ear Headphones: With Mic & Control by Jeremy Carpenter

Until now I never thought to write a review about headphones. And ironically a very positive review only after they broke! I've tried more than I should over the last few years and lately I've only made my choice after reading quite positive reviews on here - too often a little disappointed in fit and performance. So much so, that I've come to the conclusion that listening with headphones seems to be a very subjective experience, with a person's favorite set of headphones being another "I" set of headphones. So keep in mind that my own experiences may differ - slightly or completely - from yours. Fitting is an easy to apply and seemingly unattainable criterion. I wanted headphones that would stay in place primarily during workouts at the gym. I don't jog and almost always rely on the strain relief clips to minimize pulling on the headphone cords with the usual gentle squeeze. Something about the shape of my ears and the sweat of my ears! - keeps them all from sealing properly and staying in place - at least not for very long. Special covers for headphones, ear clips and so on, nothing seems to help. They managed to stay a little longer than everyone else. I credit their slightly angular shape for this, but for those of you cursed with similarly unruly ears, the addition of a shirt clip goes a long way towards stabilizing it. Too bad very few bud makers include them, so when I get one of these (usually I spot one on the gym floor) it's like gold to me. sounded good. Eventually I found a couple of first generation Skullcandys that seemed very good, but then they broke (necessarily too soon with all those headphones!), and then I found that the "new and improved" versions actually sounded worse! I've read some rave reviews about Sony and Panasonics, but of course my experience was MEH. Too much/too little bass, distorted or muffled highs, muffled mids in various combinations. I was beginning to suspect that my ear's natural frequency response had to match the headphone output to be happy. Fair enough, but does that mean I have to hunt and peck forever until I happen to find a match? I still thought that a flat and wide frequency profile (again at a fairly low cost :-)) would be the best approximation. I really like hearing the sounds of the entire range and am concerned about a part being muted. I listen to a lot of trance with its huge variety of synthesized sounds, with and without vocals. Sometimes light and hard rock, sometimes New Age. I'm fine with the lack of noise from fingers sliding across guitar strings and the like. I agree that synthesizer instruments lose a lot of tonality delicacy right after the rubble. And so… YES, so far they come closest to a decent overall sound! Not perfect, mind you, as I can still hear the cabinet ringing, which I suspect should have been a more complementary instrumental. The bass doesn't hit my eardrums, but I'm happy with its pun. AND CHEAP!But then they're BROKEN! Considering they lasted almost a year, I wasn't too concerned. Only then did I go back and try some of my MEH backups and again realized how much better they are than the others in my stack. So I went to work preparing to purchase a replacement but decided to diagnose the suddenly unstable connection and try to fix it. In this particular case, I found that the small control button board had lost a solder joint with an even thinner wire. Luckily, I have a soldering iron with a variable heat range, a sharp tip, a fairly steady hand, and the determination of a curmudgeon - and IT'S FIXED! so happy now I didn't know headphones could highlight my emotional range. I LOVE these headphones. I decided to buy spares anyway and even bought a slightly more expensive model to see if the Audio Technica sound still worked for me across the entire line, with great satisfaction at an additional cost. If anyone needs more details on other headphones I've tried, just comment. Have fun searching for buds!